OREM, Utah – The New Mexico State women's soccer team dropped its first road game in Western Athletic Conference play, falling to Utah Valley 4-0 Friday night.

Rian Nials and the NM State (3-10-0, 2-2-0 WAC) defense was under pressure the entire game, but the defense played great and kept UVU (8-4-1, 3-0-1 WAC) off the board despite the offensive barrage for most of the first half.
 
"They kept pressing us for most of the first half and anytime you have a team that puts that kind of pressure, you're bound to make mistakes," said head coach Freddy Delgado. "We have a young team so we're still learning to stay focused for the entire 90 minutes against a team like UVU."
 
The Aggie offense had a handful of opportunities in early in the first half, but couldn't capitalize before a strike from Taylor Kirk broke the scoreless tie at the 31:36 mark to give Utah Valley the 1-0 lead.
 
Aileen Galicia had a great opportunity in the 43rd minute to score the equalizer, but her strike from just inside the box went off the top crossbar as NMSU went into the break trailing 1-0.
 
New Mexico State's defense looked like it had found a counter for the UVU offense, but the Wolverines showed why they were undefeated at home and rattled off three goals in the second half to secure the 4-0 victory.
 
However, there were bright spots throughout the game for NMSU according to Delgado. "This is one of the best teams we've played all year. The girls learned a lot from this game. After seeing Utah Valley, we're more prepared and know what we're going to need to win the WAC this year. This game will definitely prepare us for the future when we face them in the conference tournament."
 
Nials finished with five saves in the loss and moves to 2-6 on the year. The Aggie's offense was held in check as the Wolverine held an 18-6 shot differential over NMSU, including a 9-2 shots on goal advantage.
 
New Mexico State now heads to the northwest for a tilt with Seattle U at 1 p.m. on Sunday.